Cops shoot 50 rounds into car, kill unarmed groom

[SniperShot]

Some interesting points to ponder as I get to sleep tonight.

I hope this thread isn't locked by morning. It's been a good read up to this point.

Comparing this to the UCLA taser thing is a bit of a stretch though. How can you fire that many rounds when nobody is shooting back? I can see 3 or 4 shots but 50+? Cops must have been drunk and half asleep.

[skibrett15]

why is everyone calling out Matthias on this one? No need to use names. All he did was post the news and a little discussion starter. Then we get into these assumptions that Matthias hates all police officers and protects criminals...

When there's shots fired, it's going to be in the news. When it's cops firing suspect shots that's a bigger deal. It's my opinion that the reason these things happen is because cops aren't ready to perform their duty. If it's their duty not to fire until fired upon and they agree with that, there's no excuse "but we were in danger" to open fire.

[lmcjaho]

why is everyone calling out Matthias on this one? No need to use names. All he did was post the news and a little discussion starter. Then we get into these assumptions that Matthias hates all police officers and protects criminals...

Because Matthias started this discussion with comments like "this is why people don't trust cops" ...

When there's shots fired, it's going to be in the news. When it's cops firing suspect shots that's a bigger deal. It's my opinion that the reason these things happen is because cops aren't ready to perform their duty. If it's their duty not to fire until fired upon and they agree with that, there's no excuse "but we were in danger" to open fire.

That is a valid point if you accept that they can only open fire if fired upon, but personally I'd have to accept "guy tries to run me over" as a valid reason to shoot at someone as well - even if it isn't strictly within their accepted Rules of Engagement.

In either case, I am not ready to issue a blanket statement about all cops being untrustworthy hotheads with itchy trigger fingers - which is essentially what Matthias implied with his comments.

[SeaWolf]

Stupid comment my me? Maybe. But I feel strongly on both. Illegals and non english speaking.

Okay - just pointing out that one does not necessarily = the other. And since you're ALL immigrants to a certain extent it makes no sense to be anti-immigrant - although I can certainly agree with an anti-illegals slant...

I still don't hold them very high. I really don't hold them higher then the police.

A fair statement. I concur.

I was born here. Doesn't that not make me an immigrant any more than any other nationality being born here?

[lmcjaho]

I was born here. Doesn't that not make me an immigrant any more than any other nationality being born here?

Only reason you could get born there is because at some point someone (2 someones technically) in your family tree immigrated there right?

[SeaWolf]

I was born here. Doesn't that not make me an immigrant any more than any other nationality being born here?

Only reason you could get born there is because at some point someone (2 someones technically) in your family tree immigrated there right?

Doesn't make me an immigrant, anymore than the black family next door or the Asia's 2 doors down.

[beanoX3]

Well, I'd say the officers involved in the shooting are at fault here. At the minimum, they failed to follow their own policy.

The police department's policy on shooting at moving vehicles states: "Police officers shall not discharge their firearms at or from a moving vehicle unless deadly force is being used against the police officers or another person present, by means other than a moving vehicle."

But I can also see why the cops would think themselves in danger and defending themselves by shooting since one cop got run over, their van got hit, and the car wasn't exactly stopping (although I probably wouldn't think of stopping if unknown strangers were shooting at me).

The one guy who emptied 2 magazines went totally overboard IMO, but not as bad as some make it out to be, since 2 mags can be emptied in a minute or so. 50 rounds isn't that much either if it was 5 officers shooting. Police issue 9mm magazines probably holds anywhere from 15-20 rounds. So if that one guy emptied 2 mags, then half or more of the shots were his.

Cops also have a revenge mentality when one of their own is hurt/killed (unless that's all in the movies, lol). It's likely the cops all saw the car try to run over one of them and opened fire automatically. Someone's head/s need to roll though, although I'm not all too sure what firing the comissioner is going to solve.

[VY]

The fact that he hit a person then kept going and hit a Van full of cops... TWICE. Makes him a threat. The fact that he hit a person and kept going, then hit a van full of cops, and continued to keep his vehicle moving to hit it again makes me think this is not a case of police brutality.

If they were minorities, I still don't think that'd be a factor. After all they did I don't think the police stopped to look to see who was driving they probably pulled and shot.

[stomperrob]

The fact that he hit a person then kept going and hit a Van full of cops... TWICE. Makes him a threat. The fact that he hit a person and kept going, then hit a van full of cops, and continued to keep his vehicle moving to hit it again makes me think this is not a case of police brutality.

If they were minorities, I still don't think that'd be a factor. After all they did I don't think the police stopped to look to see who was driving they probably pulled and shot.

The so-called "community leaders" who always come out of the woodwork to scream racism and try and provoke a riot are already trying to play the racism angle up - unfortunately for them 2 of the officers are black and 1 is hispanic so their case falls short.

[Omaha Red Sox]

The fact that he hit a person then kept going and hit a Van full of cops... TWICE. Makes him a threat. The fact that he hit a person and kept going, then hit a van full of cops, and continued to keep his vehicle moving to hit it again makes me think this is not a case of police brutality.

If they were minorities, I still don't think that'd be a factor. After all they did I don't think the police stopped to look to see who was driving they probably pulled and shot.

The so-called "community leaders" who always come out of the woodwork to scream racism and try and provoke a riot are already trying to play the racism angle up - unfortunately for them 2 of the officers are black and 1 is hispanic so their case falls short.

Why is this even part of the conversation? I was, still am, completely in the dark about the races of the unfortunates in the car. It's irrelevant.

For the record, I never called out Matthias, I merely quoted his opinions and responded. Particularly to his assumption that the general public doesn't trust police.